I know from speaking with sales reps and VP’s of Sales across the country that following someone else’s blueprint for success can be a dangerous time-waster. Sales formulas, processes, and strategies can seem like the flavor of the season.

Changing things up and moving on when something doesn’t work makes sense. But chasing your tail in circles with information is a real career killer.

One day it’s all about the Challenger Sales Model and next year it’s MEDDIC. Eat, sleep, breath the MEDDIC checklist. Until of course, we need more answers and then Scientific Selling comes along.

Adapting to a Tight Talent Market

As of December 2018, 129.14 million people in the US are employed on a full-time basis.

Now let’s look at unemployment. During the Great Recession, unemployment peaked in 2010 to 14.83 Million. Unemployment incrementally dropped over the next few years, and in 2016 fell to 7.75M, and 2017 dropped to 6.98 million.

The current US population in 2017 was 325.7 million and today sits at 328,254,391 million according to The US and World Population Clock provided by the United States Census Bureau.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, (BLS) calculates the Civilian Labor Force at 49% of the US population, or 164M people. This gives us a 4.25% unemployment rate for the civilian workforce.

We can also calculate that 78% of the eligible civilian workforce is working on a full-time basis. The rest are working on a part-time basis or are unemployed.

Every top salesperson will eventually quit. What’s even more painful is the best leave when they are on top, so if you’re not careful, you may not even see it coming. As the job market tightens, sales professionals have more and more lucrative and exciting job opportunities vying for their attention.

I was on the phone with one of my candidates yesterday. A true talent with an amazing track record of sales success hunting and winning new business. Probably not another person like him in the entire region --he is that good.

Have you ever found working with a recruiter a frustrating experience? If you have, you are not alone. Hiring managers can become frustrated with their recruiters and let’s face it, the entire recruitment process, when they don’t see the level of sales talent they need to be successful.

What Motivates Recruiters to Help You Find Top Sales Talent?

Yesterday I had a conversation with a potential client. He was frustrated because he hadn't been able to find a replacement hire for over seven months. He was already working with three other recruiters and had no candidates in current consideration for the role.

What went wrong?

Are the recruiters to blame? They had presented multiple candidates, and the one that the client was most interested in was over the budgeted compensation level. He made a comment that he thought perhaps the recruiters just wanted more money and were inflating salary expectations.

8 Reasons Why Agency Recruiters Can’t Help You Fill Your Sales Roles

Isn’t it frustrating when you reach out to a recruiter to help you fill a role and you don’t see strong results? As a hiring manager or an internal recruiter, when you’re looking for top sales talent, your neck is on the line. You need to get roles filled with the right salespeople and you need to make it happen fast so you can hit your hiring and top line revenue goals.

Working with Recruiting Firms Driving You Crazy?

If you told me you’ve tried using a recruitment firm in the past, and things didn’t work out, I wouldn’t be surprised. Although there are a lot of exceptional recruiters out there, a few bad experiences can taint a person’s willingness to try again.

If you’re looking at a recruiting firm like a commodity, you probably won’t get good results. I’ve gotten calls from companies who’ve had searches out to multiple firms and are were adamant about paying discounted fees. Saving a few thousand dollars today was more important than hiring the best employee.

Building Lasting Partnerships With Recruitment Agencies

If you’ve used a recruiter to source sales candidates successfully, you understand the importance of your role in the recruitment and hiring process. Taking an active interest in the recruitment process, making yourself available, and fostering open communication with your recruiter are important parts of developing a productive working relationship.